Chapter 3 - The Numbers That Could Kill
By sunrise, Mia had become the second most protected person in Chicago.
She hated it.
Two men outside the door.
Another at the elevator.
A driver downstairs.
Marco personally checked every meal.
When Mia walked toward the bathroom, Gabriel glanced up as though she might disappear through a drain.
“I’m going six feet away.”
“I can see that.”
“You don’t need to watch me walk.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
Gabriel returned his attention to the laptop.
Mia muttered, “Control freak.”
“I heard that.”
“It wasn’t confidential.”
She shut the bathroom door.
Gabriel stared at it for three seconds longer than necessary.
Marco noticed.
He wisely said nothing.
Mia returned wearing clean clothes somebody had brought from her apartment.
Black pants.
Gray sweater.
Hair tied back.
Bruises remained visible along her cheek and wrist.
Gabriel disliked seeing them.
Every mark felt personal.
“Ready?” he asked.
“No.”
She sat anyway.
The secure laptop contained an offline copy of Romano Maritime’s financial records.
Mia began searching vendor IDs.
Gabriel stood behind her.
After three minutes, she looked over her shoulder.
“Do you have to stand there?”
“Yes.”
“You’re breathing on me.”
“I’m three feet away.”
“You breathe aggressively.”
Marco coughed to hide a laugh.
Gabriel looked at him.
Marco immediately became fascinated by his phone.
Mia worked.
Thirty minutes later she found the pattern.
Four shell vendors.
North Ridge Freight Consulting.
Lakeside Compliance Partners.
Harbor Technical Advisors.
East Meridian Logistics.
All legitimate-looking.
All receiving irregular payments.
All approved through different departments.
Gabriel leaned closer.
“How much?”
Mia calculated.
“Over fourteen months?”
“Yes.”
“Just under four million.”
Marco swore.
Gabriel didn’t.
That was worse.
“Where did it go?”
“Layered accounts.”
“Can you follow them?”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Hours.”
“You have one.”
Mia slowly turned.
“You understand accounting isn’t a hostage negotiation?”
“Two hours.”
“Four.”
“Three.”
She stared.
“Did you just negotiate with me?”
“Yes.”
“Over spreadsheets.”
“Yes.”
Mia shook her head.
“Three.”
Gabriel walked away looking almost pleased.
She hated that too.
Mostly because she was beginning to understand him.
Gabriel Romano did not relax.
He redirected tension.
When angry, he became quieter.
When afraid, he gave orders.
When emotionally overwhelmed, he inspected things that did not need inspecting.
He had checked Leo’s portable crib six times.
Mia pretended not to notice.
Three hours later she found the destination.
“Gabriel.”
He was beside her instantly.
She pointed.
“These accounts funnel into one holding company.”
“Name?”
“Black Finch Capital.”
Marco searched.
“Registered in Delaware.”
Mia nodded.
“Ownership hidden.”
Gabriel studied the screen.
“Sterling?”
“Maybe.”
Mia enlarged another transfer.
“But this is stranger.”
“What?”
“Black Finch paid Romano Maritime.”
Gabriel frowned.
“Explain.”
“Two hundred eighty thousand last year. Listed as a consulting refund.”
“I’ve never heard of them.”
“That’s the problem.”
The company wasn’t only draining money.
It had been putting money back.
Why?
Mia searched transaction dates.
Then froze.
Gabriel noticed.
“What?”
“This payment happened four days before Daniel died.”
Silence.
The room suddenly felt colder.
Gabriel stared at the date.
December 18.
Daniel died December 22.
Marco moved closer.
“What was the money for?”
Mia opened supporting documents.
A transportation safety contract.
Signed by Victor Hale.
Gabriel’s hands flattened on the table.
“What does transportation safety have to do with Daniel?”
Marco answered.
“Daniel was reviewing fleet contracts that month.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“You never told me that.”
“I didn’t think it mattered.”
Gabriel turned slowly.
“My brother died in a vehicle.”
Marco’s expression changed.
“Gabriel—”
“Get me everything Daniel touched during his final thirty days.”
Mia watched Gabriel walk toward the window.
City lights faded beneath the gray dawn.
For the first time she saw something beyond anger.
Fear.
Not fear of Sterling.
Fear that Daniel’s death might not have been an accident.
Mia closed the laptop.
Gabriel heard it.
“Why did you stop?”
“Because you need thirty seconds.”
“I don’t.”
“Yes, you do.”
He looked at her.
“You don’t get to order me around.”
“Apparently I do. Marco started it.”
Marco looked away.
Mia approached Gabriel.
Not too close.
“You loved him.”
Gabriel stared through the glass.
“He was my brother.”
“That wasn’t what I said.”
A muscle moved in his jaw.
“He wanted out.”
“Of the business?”
“Of all of it.”
Mia waited.
Gabriel rarely told anybody personal things.
He didn’t know why he continued.
“He told me the company was getting too dirty.”
“Was he right?”
Gabriel turned.
Mia did not flinch.
“Yes.”
The answer surprised her.
Gabriel continued.
“I told him business wasn’t clean.”
“That’s convenient.”
“It was true.”
“Truth can still be convenient.”
He almost smiled.
“You really aren’t afraid of me.”
Mia looked at the bruise on her arm.
“I was kidnapped twelve hours ago. My fear scale is temporarily broken.”
Gabriel’s expression softened.
Then his phone rang.
Marco answered his own at the same time.
Both men changed.
“What?” Mia asked.
Gabriel held up one finger.
Marco spoke first.
“Security breach at your apartment.”
Mia’s stomach dropped.
“My apartment?”
“Nobody inside.”
“My neighbor?”
“Fine.”
“What happened?”
Marco hesitated.
“Mia.”
“Tell me.”
“Someone entered your apartment at five twelve this morning.”
She stared.
“They took anything?”
“No.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
Gabriel looked at Marco.
“What did they leave?”
Marco showed them a photograph sent by the response team.
Mia’s living room.
On the kitchen table sat a single manila envelope.
Inside was a photograph of Gabriel’s dead brother Daniel.
On the back someone had written:
ASK THE ACCOUNTANT WHY DANIEL WAS LOOKING AT BLACK FINCH.
Mia felt all the blood leave her face.
Gabriel turned toward her.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“Mia.”
“I swear.”
He searched her face.
She was telling the truth.
Then she suddenly remembered something.
A year and a half earlier.
Daniel had visited finance.
Not unusual.
Except he had come after hours.
Mia had been working late.
He asked her whether vendor history could be altered without leaving an audit trail.
She told him theoretically yes, but not by anybody using standard credentials.
Then he asked about Black Finch.
Mia had searched.
Nothing.
She told him the company did not appear in their vendor database.
Daniel had smiled.
Not happily.
“Good,” he said. “Then I’m not crazy.”
Mia had forgotten the conversation after his death.
Until now.
She told Gabriel.
Every word.
Gabriel listened without interrupting.
When she finished, he asked, “Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
“Because four days later he died.”
“You didn’t think it mattered?”
“I thought he was checking a vendor. I didn’t know he suspected something.”
Gabriel paced away.
Mia watched guilt move across his face.
Daniel had been investigating.
Gabriel had dismissed his concerns.
Now Leo had been kidnapped.
The same financial network touched both events.
Marco’s phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
Then looked at Gabriel.
“We found Victor.”
“Where?”
“His house.”
“Bring him.”
Marco didn’t move.
Gabriel saw why.
“What?”
“He’s dead.”
Mia covered her mouth.
Gabriel’s expression became unreadable.
“How?”
“Single gunshot.”
“When?”
“Estimated between midnight and two.”
Mia whispered, “He couldn’t have sent the photograph.”
“No.”
Gabriel looked toward the laptop.
Victor Hale was not the traitor.
He had been made to look like one.
Someone had used his credentials.
Someone had moved money through his authorization.
Someone had killed him before Gabriel could ask questions.
Then Mia’s phone rang.
Her personal phone had been destroyed, so the sound came from the temporary phone Marco had given her.
Unknown number.
Gabriel held out his hand.
“Don’t.”
Mia answered anyway.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then a man spoke.
“Mia Carver.”
Gabriel reached for the phone.
Mia stepped away.
“Who is this?”
“You should have stayed invisible.”
Her heart began hammering.
“What do you want?”
“The ledger.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The man laughed softly.
“Daniel did.”
Mia looked at Gabriel.
His eyes turned ice-cold.
The voice continued.
“He left it somewhere.”
“Where?”
“That’s what you’re going to tell us.”
“I don’t have anything.”
“Then maybe we ask your mother.”
Mia stopped breathing.
Gabriel snatched the phone.
“If you go near her, I’ll bury everyone you ever trusted.”
The voice paused.
Then laughed.
“Gabriel Romano.”
Gabriel’s tone became terrifyingly calm.
“You wanted my attention.”
“Yes.”
“You have it.”
“Good.”
The call ended.
Mia looked at him.
“My mother lives in Wisconsin.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“I had Marco find her thirty seconds after your apartment was breached.”
She stared.
“You investigated my mother?”
“I protected her.”
“That is incredibly invasive.”
“She has six security officers around her house.”
Mia blinked.
“Six?”
“Eight soon.”
She wanted to be angry.
Instead she sat down.
Gabriel crouched in front of her.
“They won’t touch her.”
“You promised Daniel nobody would touch Leo.”
The words slipped out before Mia could stop them.
Pain flashed through his face.
She closed her eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
He stood.
“You’re right.”
Mia looked up.
Gabriel stared toward the crib where Leo slept.
“I made promises based on the assumption I understood the danger.”
He turned back.
“I don’t make that mistake twice.”
His voice changed.
“This time I find who is inside my organization before they find you.”
Marco entered from the hall.
“We may already be late.”
Gabriel looked at him.
Marco held up a phone.
“Security camera at Mia’s apartment caught the intruder.”
“Face?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“He was wearing a Romano security jacket.”
Gabriel went still.
Marco continued.
“Current issue. Not stolen inventory.”
Mia felt a chill.
Only active employees had them.
Marco enlarged the image.
On the intruder’s wrist was a watch.
Gold case.
Dark leather band.
Gabriel recognized it.
So did Marco.
Mia didn’t.
“Who is it?”
Gabriel stared at the screen.
Then quietly said a name neither Mia nor Marco expected.
“Peter Colson.”
Mia’s supervisor.
May you like
The man she had trusted with every suspicious transfer.
And the man who had disappeared hours before Leo was taken.
